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In an effort to enhance safety for long time disposal of waste nuclear fuel, friction stir welding has been developed as one alternative to seal copper canisters. To avoid the formation of voids and cracks during the welding process, an understanding of the heat and material flow and thereby the evolution of the microstructure, is of great importance. Finite element modelling has been used to simulate the heat and material flow as well as thermal expansion during the friction stir welding process. A model involving heat transfer, material flow, and continuum mechanics has been developed. The steady state solutions have been compared with experimental temperature observations as well as analytical solutions, showing good agreement. Temperature distribution is affected by the welding speed. For a given reference point perpendicular to the welding direction, a lower welding speed corresponds to a higher peak temperature. The plunging position of welding tool influences the temperature distribution and therefore the displacement distribution of the weldment.